


Quick Thoughts - Arrowverse gen drabbles/shorts

by Purpleyin



Category: DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV), The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Angst, Character Study, Double Drabble, Drabble, Drabble Collection, Family Issues, Friendship, Gen, Gluten Intolerance, Grief/Mourning, TAKING PROMPTS, Team as Family, Whump
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-01
Updated: 2018-11-26
Packaged: 2019-07-05 15:07:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 4,258
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15866097
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Purpleyin/pseuds/Purpleyin
Summary: Collection of drabbles (the oldschool definition of exactly 100 words), double drabbles and triple drabbles, for The Flash and Legends of Tomorrow (and briefly Arrow). Only gen/character/friendship, no shippy drabbles. A variety of characters will be included. Also taking prompts.





	1. Dr Christina 'Tina' McGee

  
**Post-S1 set drabble. Tina knows some things.**

  
There are a lot of things they don't tell her, about Harrison, about S.T.A.R. Labs, about the danger that is routine for the city these days. She can't help but put the facts together, a puzzle made out of the data available. She knows things she shouldn't, things others wouldn't want to know. She finds it comforting though, to understand what is at stake. She still doesn't know what happened to Harrison though - that mystery, if solved, is not shared with her. But she knows who he was, what he wanted for the world. She still wants that too.

* * *

  
**Post-S1 set drabble. Interviewing Caitlin.**

  
Tina is sure Caitlin Snow would be a fine addition to Mercury Labs. She's also sure that Dr Snow speculatively applying for a position here a fortnight after a singularity formed very close indeed to S.T.A.R. Labs is no coincidence. She watches Caitlin fiddle with a wedding ring she didn't have last time she saw her. Her application form only states her mother as next of kin, no spouse.  
  
Of all the happenings Tina gets a mere glimpse of, this is one she most needs to know and least wants to ask. She decides it's a question for another day.

 

* * *

  
**Post-S1 double drabble. Tina hires Hartley**. I like to headcanon him working at Mercury Labs in the post-2x17 timeline

  
  
Hartley Rathaway _is_ impressive. He has quite the reputation – generally not one that works in his favour. All she had been privy to previously was Harrison summarily firing him. When she prompts for an explanation of his employment history gap, she doesn't see arrogance like the gossip would have her expect. There's an anguish he tries to hide and a resignation.  
  
“I can't tell you that.” He gets up as soon as it's said, defeated.  
  
“Does it have to do with your status as a metahuman?”    
  
He turns, mouth agape.  
  
“Our buildings are state-of-the-art. Including technology we don't like to advertise.”  
  
“You have metahuman detectors.” It's a statement, not a question.  
  
She likes that she doesn't have to spell it out, one test passed.  
  
“If you're having issues with your powers, we can help.”  
  
He narrows his eyes, remains in the doorway, giving her the sense he might flee. “What would I have to do in return?”  
  
She feels the echoes of Harrison Wells in his response, of the rumours Hartley's behaviour proves.  
  
“Science, innovation, Mr Rathaway. That's all we strive for here.”  
  
For the first time since entering her office, he relaxes.

* * *

 

**2x22 set drabble. Tina meets E2-Harry.**

  
  
She stares. Barry's words wash over her – talk of an imposter with Harrison's face, confirmation of the multiverse theory. She isn't uninterested, it's just that this Harrison looks so like the man she once knew. Older, wearier, but Harrison nevertheless. _Harry_ he's called. He's not their Harrison; long dead it turns out, she swallows that grief for later. Yet he's more Harrison Wells than the man she'd thought she knew and was estranged from for the last 15 years. When he introduces his daughter, she sees Tess in her, grateful one universe has the legacy of her friends' love.

 

* * *

 

 

**4x12 set drabble. Tina's thoughts on that Kord Industries building.**

  
  
When she sees the headline – _Kord Industries metahuman-proof building vanishes_ – she can't help but feel a touch smug. Their overblown PR stunt, and its subsequent backfiring, only further solidified her stance on their own technology roll-out. Traditional security often relied on being known, a deterrent as much as an obstacle. Her view of metahuman security was rather... different. Villains in the city weren't deterred, they saw a challenge, and so the best course of action was to never issue one. Care approaching prospective clients and an NDA ensured villains remained baffled at their powers failing in select locations.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is rebloggable on tumblr [here](https://purpleyin.tumblr.com/post/177636771655/quick-thoughts-gen-flash-drabbles-1-t-tina).


	2. Ray Palmer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ray drabbles/shorts, mostly early LoT S2 focused but with some other what if's - includes much angst and some whump too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Massive thanks to [unwittingcatalyst](https://archiveofourown.org/users/unwittingcatalyst/pseuds/unwittingcatalyst) for invaluable help betareading and talking through the ideas to improve them.

**Ray on his and Sara’s argument in 2x01**

 

He regrets the words, because he knows Sara is more than a killer. Her past doesn't define her anymore, not like his does.

Sara has learnt from her history, he realizes. She's more than her pain now, even as new pain flourishes and threatens to overtake her.

His is still worn on his sleeve, on the metal cuff that covers very little from his teammates. They know his pain, understand possibly better than he does by now. He'd thought he'd grown, but isn't Sara just reiterating what Oliver had shown him? A suit doesn't make the man into a hero.

 

* * *

 

 

**Ray on others impressions of him**

 

They call him boy scout, haircut - as if his hair is never out of place, he wishes. They see him as stalwart, unable to accept anything less than the ideal. They make him sound like a perfectionist at times. He might admit to becoming a little obsessed with his work, but he doesn't get everything right. He tries though, again and again.

He shrunk himself by accident, he was declared dead – and no one realized, no one came to save him. If he doesn't get it right - the price for failure is too high. It's perfect or...

 

* * *

 

**Ray about Amaya’s words to him in 2x02**

 

It's not a consolation. _You're not a hero._ The sentiment echoes inside, reinforcing a fear deep within. He'd been able to accept he wasn't good at being a hero – it takes practice, experience counts – but the idea he isn't one, isn't capable of being one because he's relying on the suit, sits with him uncomfortably.

He looks again at the suit. Doesn't recognize the hours poured into it, times his brains and body were exhausted building it. He sees pure technology – how _anyone_ could fit inside and be something more than what they were destined to be.

* * *

 

**Businessman Ray taking over Queen Consolidated**

 

It's a mask, he tells himself. He doesn't _feel_ confident but he doesn't have to be – he just has to look it. Play the part of Ray Palmer, philanthropist and tech-savvy businessman. If he can speak the right words he can cast a spell over the board – make them believe what he _knows_. He can do good here - he can be the boss these employees need _and_ the superhero this city needs. This is merely the mask he needs to don today in order to be the hero someday in the future. He can be that man.

 

* * *

 

**2x04 Ray without his suit thoughts**

 

Science has always been comforting to him, something he'd had when times had been hard, when people had been harsh. Science had been a proof he was worth something when he hadn't felt he'd anything else to offer.

Science is all he has to offer now. That and his nutritional knowledge.

Science had built his suit. Science had led him to this ship. It had also led to his loneliness – in his ‘death,’ to his being stranded. Science sets him apart time and time again. And now, it sets him apart as only tech support, instead of a hero.

 

* * *

 

**Ray’s suit bringing a downside - whump (warning for self-sacrificing harmful behaviour)  
**

 

He feels dense for not seeing it sooner. Dwarfstar _is_ the densest material known to humankind after all. The suit takes its toll on his body and Gideon notices.

At first it's micro-fractures. It's a flaw of engineering, fixable. Gideon fixes him, he intends to fix the suit. Except he doesn't find an easy solution. That doesn't mean he stops using it. It's a small price to pay after all.

And then he does something stupid, something that goes above and beyond, beyond the tolerance the suit, and his body, has. He pushes it past his breaking point, something snaps, literally. But it's just pain - organic feedback - raw information. He does his best to get past it.

Gideon does her best too. He keeps using the suit, against her advice. Because people need him and he can't say no. He doesn't have time for downtime. A hero doesn't wait for his moment, neither does a villain. His _friends_ need him.

It's like another form of torture in a way, captured in the moments it overcomes him, but it's different because **he** chooses to keep going. Every time it seems worth it, another victory for the good guys, other lives saved. Until he breaks down in the night, a bone deep ache, the consequence he hides. But he's had worse, he reminds himself.

He convinces himself it's okay, manageable, forbids Gideon to say anything. They'd tell him to stop but he has it under control. He's healing with her help. _Always_ healing something. The injuries repeated, relentlessly. Where one recovers, another cracks under the pressure.

He pushes further. He stills the wince, silences the moan that should spring from his lips. He's a hero and he knows his place. Heroes have to make sacrifices. His come slow but sure.

 

* * *

  
**2X05 Ray trying to fill in for Snart**

 

He puts on the goggles, everything looks wrong. In his heart he knows why – he's used to wearing masks but those were his own, not those that belong to others. This one will never fit, already moulded to another's face. Still, it isn't about him. He shoots, briefly gleeful because it appears to work as intended.

It doesn't work (it never could). Everyone involved knows it (doesn't want to admit it).

Try to be cool is Mick's mantra ( _Snart's_ mantra, passed on). It's not as easy as Ray'd hoped. Cool is as cool does, he finds himself thinking. But Ray never has done cool. He runs hot, fuelled with passion, enthusiasm threatening to burst his person at the seams. He's too much, he's _not_ restrained. He attempts it anyway, for Mick.

Mick said find the pain, darkness. Things to channel, because he can hardly channel Snart (it's second best, a bad plan no one points out). And it's not like he lacks for it, despite what others might think. But it's hard to tap into those, he doesn't want to, he doesn't want to climb down into that pit and risk never being able to claw his way out.

 

* * *

 

**Zari whump and Ray's reaction/anger at it (warning for violence)  
**

 

He sees Zari go down as he struggles with his bonds. _So much for being rescued_. She's out cold when the woman approaches. Just another underling, nothing special in comparison, but she looks at Zari with a gleam in her eyes. Ray doesn't like it.

She looks between him and Zari, takes a step back, then he's speechless as she swings her leg to kick. By the time he's cognisant enough to protest she's swinging for another with a smile on her face.

It's not for defence, or information, it's _because she can_. She keeps going until she's bored of watching him react – he can't hide his horror at the damage done, and for no other reason than _fun_. When he's left alone he throws up.

Eventually he manoeuvres his hands to rub against a loose nail and has his freedom. He jury-rigs a device to blow a hole in the side of the building, an impromptu escape route, readying himself, cautiously draping Zari over his shoulders.

 _She's_ on the other side, injured, because of him he thinks hollowly.

“Help me,” comes the plea.

“I could,” he admits, “But you're not my priority.” Help _will_ come, eventually.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is rebloggable on tumblr [here](https://purpleyin.tumblr.com/post/177913480245/quick-thoughts-arrowverse-gen-drabblesshorts).


	3. Cisco Ramon - post-Earth2 thoughts on Reverb

**Post-Earth2 thoughts on Reverb  
**

He looks at his hands and wonders what power is hidden in them. What is it he could do if he wanted to? He thinks at first he doesn't understand why Reverb would want to wield that, but upon reflection he understands exactly why.

It wasn't just love of science that drove him to excel in his field. He wanted to succeed, he wanted to achieve something they could see, that they could approve of. Approval never came, his family never understood. But they would understand power, they would fear it, unable to ignore him. He hates that he understands.


	4. Cisco Ramon - post-Flashpoint - grief

**Post-Flashpoint timeline – warning for grief**

 

Dante is dead.

A meta is attacking Central City, and Dante is dead.

Cisco runs the comms with precision – facts streamlined from screen to brain to his strained voice. Adrenaline makes his heart pound, then it is over, everyone – _almost_ everyone - safe, because Dante is still dead.

The adrenaline doesn't go away like it should.

Caitlin looks to him, concerned. Barry is looking to him too, a pained look (good, he thinks and doesn't correct himself) asking what they should call the meta. For once Cisco doesn't care. Words are meaningless now, everything except 'Dante is dead'.


	5. Cisco Ramon - late S1 thoughts on betrayal

**Late S1 - eoWells betrayal thoughts – warning for canon MCD described & a lil swearing**

 

Cisco remembers things he'd  _ really _ rather not. Feeling a hand touching his heart, the light buzz preceding the choking sensation as it ceased to function. He knows that starvation, oxygen deprivation, the trauma deep inside his body that shouldn't be, wasn't in reality. How it would give up on him despite his protests, his will to live. It is a reality though, one he died through and one he can't get out of his head.

Some days he wants to scrub his brain out, forget it all. He knows there are drugs you can take for short-term retconning experiences, maybe with a few tweaks he could make it work a little differently, maybe Caitlin would help...

But no, he  _ needs _ to remember. That's what hurts. He has to,  **needs** to know how his naivete led to this clusterfuck. It isn't a failure, it's a  _ learning experience _ – he's learnt to question his instincts, second guess who he trusts. It's painful exactly because he thought Wells was his mentor, a surrogate father, and if he could be so wrong, willing to sacrifice Cisco, then what about the others Cisco puts his faith in? Just waiting for their sudden but inevitable betrayal. 


	6. Cisco Ramon - his childhood and engineering

**Cisco on his childhood and family not understanding his passion for engineering  
**

 

Cisco is used to being the odd one out. Other kids asked for toys for presents, he asked for components and got blank stares. When that didn't work he asked for toys _to take apart for components_. He didn't look at the whole and see simple fun, or ‘that's pretty’, or even the start of a story. He looked at what it was and saw what more it could be, he saw the start of a saga, a whole world changed by something wondrous and new. He wanted to create, not with words but parts and pieces constructed into a thing bigger than the originals.

Dante wrote songs, _compositions._ His parents were proud of that. Cisco didn't get what was so different between that and what he did. Dante took the constituent parts and rearranged them, just like he did. Cisco tried to explain his projects weren't so far from those, he figured out where things went on a circuit board rather than a page but just like Dante, he made something new and greater than the individual parts. The difference was, Dante made melodies, easy to enjoy, _normal_. Cisco's were made of metal, inherently dangerous, monstrosities in their eyes.


	7. Cisco Ramon - post-3x18 - Caitlin and promises

**Cisco after Caitlin is gone post-3x18**

 

Cisco had made a promise. The worst kind of promise, the kind that tears at your soul to agree to, but he'd made it. And Julian had broken it for him.

He protests, tells Julian what Caitlin had told him. Is  _ that _ the fate worse than death Savitar had foretold? In the end her wishes don't end up mattering though, she's gone. The necklace is gone too and with it hope. But she's not dead. The selfish part of him is thankful even as he berates Julian. Cisco wants Caitlin to live, can't stand the thought of another person in his life dying.

He watches  _ Killer Frost _ try to give Julian the ice-kiss of death – Julian actually leans in a little, as if he's mesmerised by her. Julian obviously still hopes that behind the cold visage it's Caitlin. Cisco knows better. He's seen Earth-2's version, feared her in nightmares that blend his own visions of Caitlin with that reality. Every time he wakes up with a chill racing down his spine at the idea of that future not yet realised but on its way to them. He's dreamt slightly changed versions of his vision for months. He knows it in and out, he sees how she isn't Caitlin and equally how she is. How she was when she was in the street that night, in the pipeline, caustic with her words to Barry.

Frost is everything about herself she hates. Cisco dreads her. Because Caitlin knows how to hurt him, knows where to hit him, what to say.

If she had died... his vision couldn't come true. How much is about her wishes, his promise. Is it ultimately a question of what he fears more; the loss of a friend or the introduction of an enemy who knows too much.


	8. Cisco Ramon - post-S3 - asking Ray for help

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Many thanks to [unwittingcatalyst](https://archiveofourown.org/users/unwittingcatalyst/pseuds/unwittingcatalyst) for betareading and talking through this, and the rest of the Cisco drabbles, to improve them. Quite a few of the Cisco ones, including this chapter's one, were originally shorter but I'd gotten convinced to write a bit more to expand a few of them, so you quite literally have more story because of her help. :)

**Cisco and Ray – Post-S3/Pre-S4 - help with getting Barry out of the Speedforce.**

 

“The Speedforce isn't really my thing,” Ray says with surprise showing on his face, a casual hand motion dismissing his value here. Cisco is used to Ray being like that, thinking someone else would be better if he isn't the foremost expert in the room, but Cisco also hopes his good manners will win out. Ray still agrees good humoredly, with only a little hesitancy, “but sure, I'll give it a try.”

Cisco can see questions forming in his friend's mind – the 'why me?', 'what can I do?'. Cisco sticks to the science. Fortunately Ray doesn't ask anything other than what he needs to know, throwing himself into a crash-course on the Speedforce.  
  
Ray stays as long as Cisco wants. He has all the time in the world. Ironic, because Barry does too, yet Cisco doesn't.  
  
He knows that he could ask Tracy or Dr McGee, who would know more specifics, but he called Ray. To anyone else it's theoretical, a neat problem to solve, divorced from emotion. To them it would be conceptual, endless what if's spawned. Those things aren't bad exactly, but for Cisco it isn't constrained to the hypothetical.  
  
His friend is AWOL, trapped. He knows Ray will get what that's like. Ray's been assumed dead, has been stranded with little hope of return to his time. Ray will know what it's like to feel abandoned, to be without his friends. It sounds horrible to Cisco when he thinks of it, but he needs that sensitivity at this precise moment. Barry has only been gone a month (Caitlin, or Frost, longer) but it feels like forever without the hope of rescue. He can't even vibe Barry. Ray may not fix things here, but he'll be another body next to Cisco whilst the loneliness stretches on.

 

  
  


 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> These Cisco chapters are rebloggable on tumblr [here](https://purpleyin.tumblr.com/post/178608946275/quick-thoughts-arrowverse-gen-drabblesshorts).


	9. Ray Palmer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ray drabbles/shorts - one S2 related to Lily, a couple S3/4 focused related to Nora and a young Ray one too about his gluten intolerance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to both [Scylla87](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Scylla87/pseuds/Scylla87) and [unwittingcatalyst](https://archiveofourown.org/users/unwittingcatalyst/pseuds/unwittingcatalyst) for betareading. :)

 

**Young Ray, socialising & gluten intolerance**

 

Ray doesn't get many invitation to parties. Everyone used to invite the whole class, so he'd get an invite too. As he grows up that's less and less true and he doesn't get to go to many. They have to be more selective, he thinks. They want their best friends there, like he would, it makes sense.

One of the things he hates about the parties is the food. Tables of fun snacks, where he has to ask first while other kids dig in. He's always waiting, missing out.

 _Find their mom, make sure it's okay._ But the other moms sometimes don't know, they forget what's in the food or what gluten is, and his way of explaining often makes their eyes glaze over, like they're not listening or can't hear him somehow. He's just a kid, they don't necessarily take him seriously. Or they don't care maybe, but he doesn't actually believe that, they're busy is all. No one wants to root through trash to find the ingredients list, he doesn't blame them. He's just one kid in a bunch and everyone else is easy to cater to.

Sometimes the food is served sitting down instead, which is worse. A plate gets placed in front of him, before it's snatched away as they remember he can't have that.

 _Only eat if you know it's fine_ \- that's what he's **meant** to do, but there's this wonder every time about what things taste like, things he hasn't eaten in years, practically forgotten. Especially tempting when he's not had them before, ever. There's the risk and the pleasure, but then there's the pain and the threat of being told off. Or worse, getting someone else told off, so Ray looks on longingly.

After a while he doesn't miss the invitations so much.

 

* * *

 

**Ray 2x10 working with Lily and social scripts**

 

In business, success seemed to go hand in hand with an excuse to celebrate. People always wanted champagne or cake. Ideally both. People didn't usually want gluten-free cake, so Ray's used to going straight to the bubbly. He's not a big drinker but it's a drink with pizazz - it feels light and he quite likes it. 

Tradition dictates caviar to go with champagne, except in situations it would be too ostentatious. On the Wave Rider they can have anything, anytime so why not go for the extravagant? Except he remembers, after suggesting it, it probably isn't suitable for this occasion. There's just him and Lily, which might give romantic implications he doesn't want – he thinks of Anna and Valentine's Day, how he bought her eight different kinds to taste-test.

Sure, Lily's great but he doesn't _know her_ know her. Plus, she's Martin's daughter - that seems kinda wrong and let's not go there, meaning he has to find a way to back out of the idea without being too obvious and embarrassing himself. But then Mick shows up, saying things he shouldn't and Ray would rather he'd stumbled over his own trivial words than let Mick speak, but it's too late.

 

* * *

 

**4x01 Ray thoughts about Nora**

 

He doesn't expect anything from Nora. But Ray _hopes_.

It was just an idea, one he couldn't leave to the realm of what-if's – a concept he sought to make real, to find proof he was right to believe. He'd risked his life for Nora several times by then, but when he gives her the timestone he's risking more. He doesn't know it, doesn't know how, until the fear creeps in about the creatures, the thought he might have caused this break in reality himself, by letting her go free.

And Zari is right, Nora is dangerous, not merely for her magic but for how he feels about her, about who she could be. That person isn't hypothetical though, they've both seen who she was when she was younger. She can't be that girl again, but that girl can be in her, part of what's good that lives on after her father's sacrifice. At the end, Damien wanted life for his daughter – he'd realized too late the world he already had and neglected. Damien gave her the opportunity for a second chance and Ray followed through on it when he returned the timestone to her. If Damien Darhk could find it in him to give up his life for love then surely his daughter must have the capacity for more too.

Except days go by from the moment that had felt so significant. Then weeks, and months, without any word from her, no sign that she has taken what was offered. The vague expectation he has that she might visit to thank him is nothing more than a wishful daydream at that point. It becomes something deeper then, a desire to simply see her, see she used what he gave over. To see she knows she can have more.

 

* * *

 

**Ray end of S3 on sparks and connections**

 

Ray is well-versed in following his gut instinct. So many of his inventions came from an idle thought, a curious wondering he followed down the rabbit hole when it was so infinitesimally small and winding down and around. Sometimes he failed of course, emerging empty handed with nonsense but other times, the times that counted, he emerged much later with it made bigger, made real.

When he feels the spark as he hands Nora the timestone, he knows there is _something_ there. What it is he can't say for sure, and he can't know when he doesn't exactly know her well enough to form any solid opinions. He has his belief and it isn't really any different for her than anyone else – there are few he wouldn't believe capable of good. He is certain, from briefly knowing her as a girl, that she has goodness in her and can find it again if she just tries. He hopes a different kind of spark will light that fire inside, to show her more than shadows on the wall – instead the ideals behind them, behind everything important.

But he does still think back to the spark he doesn't think he imagined between them and a different kind of hope flourishes with the memory of that moment. He doesn't know what will happen with Nora, to Nora – who will he find once she has found herself? He's as excited as he is fearful of being disappointed. Deeper than that, he feels capable once more, of finding connections. Not because of Nora but Nora's a reminder of how easily it can come even when he's not searching for one. That causes him to consider what he's already found, what she lacks that made him reach out to her – friends, his _family_.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is rebloggable on tumblr [here](https://purpleyin.tumblr.com/post/180528302665/title-quick-thoughts-9-author-purpleyin).

**Author's Note:**

> If you'd like to suggest a prompt let me know which characters (maximum three) and then a word, phrase, picture or short dialogue line for the drabble. I'm also on tumblr as Purpleyin and you can always send anon prompts on there if you prefer.


End file.
